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My goal as an artist is to arrest nature’s motion, involving viewers as deeply as I can. As I make my artwork, I leave behind traces of feelings associated with my experience of each scene; sharing my vision of beauty and grace expressed through color and form.

The experiences of life that I find to be of greatest value are those that rest in the basic and seemingly simplistic. Garden fragrances, nature's color and form, all outweigh for me the more contrived and materialistic of our life today.  I paint the landscapes, the feelings and the experiences that they create for me; the perceptions and sensations that collect as a result of a day at the shore, or under the shade of a live oak, or during weeks spent serving a residency at a National Park.  If these sensations communicate with the viewer through my work, their connection and purpose are complete.

 

- Patricia Rottino Cummins

Studio:

240 North Krome Ave.

Studio 7

Homestead, FL 33033


Phone:

305-310-5440

Pat Cummins was born and educated in New York City. Her earliest art related memories are of creating sculptures in clay as a preschooler, and painting “easel side” in kindergarten. As an pre-adolescent, she spent numerous weekends in Manhattan visiting the magnificent museums located near her Dad’s Madison Avenue hair salon.

At the age of twelve, she created her first pastel and oil paintings, while studying art with Robert Barrell, a contemporary of George Bridgeman and others from The Art Students League of New York City. Continuing her adult studies at The City University of New York, she received a B.A. in Art Education.  In 1976, she relocated to Miami, where she attended Florida International University, receiving a M.S. in Art Education.

For thirty-four years Pat has been a fine arts instructor for Miami-Dade Public Schools. For thirteen of those years, she has been an adjunct professor for Barry University’s Adrian School of Education. She has obtained her specialist status from MDCPS as a result of her continuous postgraduate studies. She is a resident artist, and maintains a studio at ArtSouth, in Homestead, Florida.

Her work has been exhibited locally at The Museum of Contemporary Art, The Lowe Art Museum, Consulado General de Colombia, Coral Gables, F.I.U, Homestead City Hall, Broward College, Miami Dade College, and Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden, as well as in other cities, including the D’Avilia Art Museum, Jacksonville, Backus Museum in Ft. Pierce, The Boca Museum of Art, The von Liebig Art Center of Naples, and Coastal Carolinas Art Center, Hilton Head, S.C. In July 2003 and 2004, her work was displayed at Centre pour l’Art et la Culture, Aix-en-Provence, France. In 2007 her work was included in a a City Hall exhibitionin Castel Del Piano, Tuscany.  As an art educator she was awarded a Miami-Dade Public Schools Title V Innovative Teacher Grant, receiving $10,000 in federal grant funds which were infused into the graphic arts at Palmetto Elementary School for the 2003 curriculum. She was also awarded a Learning and Leadership Grant by the National Education Association Foundation to study art and art education in China in 2006.  Two Artist Enhancement Grants were awarded to her by the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs to assist her with her travels and National Park residencies.

Solo exhibitions during  include prestigious venues such as the Florida State Capitol Gallery, the Governors Cabinet Meeting Room, Broward College, Biscayne National Park and Biscayne Nature Center. Her work has been included in many Art in Public Places programs including Hollywood City Hall, Boca Raton City Hall, Homestead City Hall, Marathon Government Center and Key West’s historic Gato Building. She also has work in Miami’s Art in Public Places Program. It is also included in many private collections, such as Miami Dade College and Landstar Development Corporation. Two of her paintings are part of the State of Florida Art Collection. Six national  parks also have her work in their collection.

Pat enjoys traveling and has painted on location in China, Paris, Aix-en-Provence, Cassis, Nice, Honfleur and Arles, France, Italy,and Central America, as well as at home in Jensen Beach, at a weekend retreat on Hutchinson Island, Fl. Landscape is her frequent inspiration, causing her to create works of art as she observes and renders nature’s intricate color, form and natural beauty. 

Her next venue in the summer of 2009 will be her seventh National Park residency. The Superintendent Invitational AIR will be served at Whiskeytown National Recreational Area in northern California.